Credit: Samsa
On Friday 4 March 2022, as part of the Esch2022 cultural project, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke attended the Luxembourg premiere of the interactive documentary "A Colônia Luxemburguesa" by Dominique Santana.
"A Colônia Luxemburguesa" is a transmedia project that aspires to discover a century of common industrial, cultural and social heritage between Luxembourg and Brazil. The project is now accessible freely on the website www.colonia.lu.
On 26 February 2022, the project was pre-launched at Cine Belas Artes and Palácio da Liberdade in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. After two screening sessions of the interactive documentary at Cine Belas Artes, a traditional cinema in Belo Horizonte, the guests gathered at the Palácio da Liberdade. In the presence of the ambassador Carlo Krieger, the Secretary of Culture and Tourism, Léonidas Oliveira, the mayor of João Monlevade, Laércio José Ribeiro, as well as representatives of ArcelorMittal and Itamarary (MAE) from Minas Gerais, a Luxembourg delegation and the film crew of director Dominique Santana presented the project and inaugurated the Brazilian [L]aço.
The [L]aço is a physical and participatory pavilion that tells the story of the Colônia and invites visitors to participate in this story. After the inauguration of the Brazilian [L]aço, the Grand Duke was able to inaugurate the Luxembourg [L]aço this Friday, 4 March 2022 by connecting directly with representatives of the Colônia Luxemburguesa through the digital telephone booth "Orelhão", notably Marie Christiane Heuwert-Meyers, daughter of Eschois born in João Monlevade and currently Honorary Consul of the Grand Duchy in Rio de Janeiro. The portmanteau word [L]aço (laço=link; aço=steel) literally means links of steel. Its main objective is to revive the transatlantic steel ties woven over a century between the communities.
After a short period in Belo Horizonte, the Brazilian [L]aço was transported to Joao Monlevade, an industrial city built by many Luxembourgers and the heart of the activities of the Brazilian steel industry. The Luxembourg delegation had the great honor of being welcomed on Sunday 27 February 2022 by the mayor and officials of this municipality, as well as by representatives of ArcelorMittal in Brazil.
On Wednesday, 9 March 2022, the [L]aço will be inaugurated at Joao Monlevade, where it will remain for the rest of the year. Cultural mediation in Luxembourg and Brazil will be guaranteed by four volunteers from the Voluntary Service of the National Youth Service.
In addition, on 4 March 2022, the city of Esch voted unanimously to twinning the cities of Esch-sur-Alzette and João Monlevade. This first twinning between a Luxembourgish and Brazilian city aims to underline and consolidate this historic relationship between the two cities.
